Sunday, October 31, 2004

About 4C, and windy, so I decided to go east from my starting point at the Glennfield parking lot in Fish Creek Park. That takes me into the forested areas and out of the wind a bit.

Time was 39:32, so a bit faster on the return, which surprised me since I thought I was lagging. No one else out at the time, except for one lady with a rambunctious Irish setter.

And after a bowl of my frabjous chili, which has been simmering all day, we welcomed the little scaries at our door. Hmmm, 11 so far. I think we're up from last year. And hardly a dent in the box of Cheezies, box of Nachos, and two boxes of Cadbury treats. Betcha my face breaks out tomorrow.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Got out earlier than usual today. I usually head out in the late afternoon, but I got started early this morning and got everything done I wanted to do. And it being such a sunny, cloudless day, it seemed like a great idea to get out at noon. And it was.

Today was my distance run. I headed east from the parking lot in the Glennfield area of Fish Creek Provincial Park, then past the Bow Valley Ranch and got as far as the picnic area at Burnsmeade. Here's a trail map that shows the area were I was running.

No wildlife today. I usually don't run into any unless the weather is really crappy, or unless it's after sunset. The was a guy with a grumpy dog, that growled a bit as I went by and that's as wild as it got.

Total time was 1:20:27, so a pretty balanced run - 40 minutes out, and 40:27 back. And as I said, sunny, calm and about 10C. Did some measuring on a map and figured I did about 10.5 km. Lots of people out running, biking, walking or exploring the creek with their kids. Just a great day.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Nothing in the way of getting out tonight. Went east from Glennfield in Fish Creek Park. I was 29 paces short of the 3 km marker before I turned around. Stopped the clock at 20 minutes and paced it out. So except for that little bit, I'll claim to have run 5.9 km, assuming, of course, that the markings on the path are accurate.

Done in 40:15.

6C and very little wind. I have a problem with over-dressing. I probably could have left a layer in the car without any problem.

I found a great pace - a nice slow stride with a good knee flexing. Had trouble keeping my stride down, though. I found I was almost reaching at times. But a painless run, nice and smooth.

There was a single whitetail deer out in the open area on the way out. Coming back, there were four on the hillside by the 1 km marker. On their way up to browse through Midnapore? Gonna hafta take a camera one of these days.

My schedule has gone to heck again. I was planning to run last night. No, really...

Anyway, the law firm that employs me had their student party last night, of which I saw the very first few minutes. Then it was home to spend the evening with my daughter and grandson, as they are heading back to Saskatchewan today.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Out at 6:00 last night, just as the sun set. I realize I need a time piece with backlighting.

I went east from my starting point, which takes me under McLeod Trail and into a mix of descidious (sp) and coniferous forest. Also I get to cross a couple of bridges over Fish Creek. The paved part of the path was just fine, but when I hit the shale paths, there was lots of ice and packed snow. The packed stuff is uneven, and I could feel it in the ankles after. Close to 0C, and the mud on the shale trails were stiff but not solid. Puddles went crunch, which was kinda neat.

The return was magical. Full moon rising up through the forest - beautiful.

Time: 39:02. But I messed up on my time keeping - forgot to zero the clock and didn't notice until about a minute or so in to the run. I thought I went farther than usual for the 20 minutes out, so I was surprised that the return was only 19 minutes. But I did stretch my stride on a couple of the return intervals.

Wildlife count: One muledeer by the stormwater ponds, one by the creek near McLeod Trail, and heard but not seen, an owl in the Glennfield picnic area.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

This was created to keep tabs on my running, and maybe on other things. My brother and sister are both veterans of the marathon, whereas I just started metamorphosing from couch potato status about seven months ago. The three of us recently began sharing running info, tips and lore, and well, here we are.

Today was my first run of the week, and it was pretty standard for me. I do 40 minutes - 20 minutes out, turn around and come back. The coming back can vary from 18 to 25 minutes, depending. I figure the closer I get to 20 minutes on the return trip, the better. It's about the only metric I have for now.

One of the paved paths I run has been used for fun runs, half and full marathons, and like that, so I have some measurements painted on the pavement. Where I start, there is an orange 0 K and a red 2.5 K, so I can count up or down. I know the orange numbers got to at least 3 K, but the red stops where I start. And when they did the red, they started out marking every 100 metres for the first 1.5 K so you can fine tune your measurements in that area.

Anyway, I ended up pretty close to half way between the 2.5 and 3.0 orange numbers, and my return trip was 20 minutes, 17 sec. So: about 5.5 K in 40:17.

Sunny,but cool (3C) so I should have worn my gloves. In late afternoon at this latitude and time of year, some of the path is in shadow, so there was ice to deal with.